The past decade has been characterized by increased scrutiny of outcomes of surgical and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs). This increased scrutiny has led to the development of regional, state, and national databases for outcome assessment and for public reporting. This report describes the initial development of a regional, collaborative, cardiovascular consortium and the progress ma...

INTRODUCTION Diagnosing tuberculosis in low-resource settings mostly relies on sputum smear microscopy. Improvement through capacity building is a priority. This project aimed to strengthen tuberculosis diagnosis at an intermediate level laboratory. METHODOLOGY The Italian National Institute for Infectious Diseases and the Italian Development Cooperation closely collaborated with regional and...

The paper provides an interpretive guide to the Special Issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Western Regional Science Association. The Special Issue contains 13 papers arranged into four groups (1) Perspectives on the Western Regional Science Association, (2) Assessment with a view to the future (3) Current topics—regional issues, and (4) Current topics—urban issues. When I was asked...

The assessment of the regional match between alveolar ventilation and perfusion in critically ill patients requires simultaneous measurements of both parameters. Ideally, assessment of lung perfusion should be performed in real-time with an imaging technology that provides, through fast acquisition of sequential images, information about the regional dynamics or regional kinetics of an appropri...

Using a regional cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) registry, we compared the practice of CPB at eight northern New England institutions to recently published recommendations. We examined CPB practice among 3597 adult patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting surgery from January 2004 to June 2005. Registry variables were used to compare regional CPB practice to recommendations on ...

PROBLEM Improving pandemic planning and preparedness is a challenge in Europe, a diverse region whose regional bodies (the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization [WHO], the European Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) have overlapping roles and responsibilities. APPROACH European pandemic preparedness indicators were used to develop an a...

Regional metastasis is a prominent feature of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and is an important prognostic factor. The currently available imaging techniques for assessment of the neck have limitations in accuracy; thus, elective neck dissection has remained the usual choice of management of the clinically N0 neck (cN0) for tumors with significant (≥20%) incidence of occult regi...

This report provides some economic background information on the size and recent growth of the Cairns/FNQ regional economy with special reference to the Recreation and Personal Services sector, incorporating tourism. This information provides background for an assessment of the regional economic impact of the Cairns casino, which may be undertaken using the input-output approach.

Many countries in West Asia, defined in this study as the Arabic-speaking countries of the Arabian Peninsula plus Turkey and Iran, have enacted environmental conservation laws but regional underlying drivers of environment change, such as rising incomes and fast-growing populations, continue to put pressure on remaining wetlands. This paper aims to inform conservation efforts by presenting the ...

42 43 The assessment of the regional match between alveolar ventilation and perfusion in 44 critically ill patients requires simultaneous measurements of both parameters. Ideally, 45 assessment of lung perfusion should be performed in real-time with an imaging 46 technology which provides, through fast acquisition of sequential images, information 47 about the regional dynamics or regional kine...